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Dec 09, 2008

AIR App: AS3 Language Reference

UPDATED: The last version had a CS3 icon. Now it's CS4. :)

UPDATED: Another alternative: Setting Flash CS4 to offline mode.


<script type="text/javascript">
var so = new SWFObject("/upload/2008/12/langref/badge.swf","as3langref","217","180","9.0.41","#000000");
so.addParam("menu", "false");
so.addParam("quality", "high");
so.addParam("allowFullScreen", "false");
so.addParam("allowScriptAccess", "sameDomain");
so.addVariable("appname","AS3%20Language%20Reference");
so.addVariable("appurl","http://labs.bigspaceship.com/_old/upload/2008/12/langref/ActionScriptLanguageReference.air");
so.addVariable("imageurl","/upload/2008/12/langref/preview.jpg");
so.addVariable("buttonColor","ffffff");
so.addVariable("messageColor","4a8e45");
so.write("as3langref");


(or if you get a stupid download error, download it here)

Dear Adobe,

So I installed Flash CS4 Professional. It's nice. I'm happy. Nice job.

... except for one little thing. Y'see, I'm a big fan of having the Language Reference handy at all times. Constantly. It was great the way it was! Maybe a little outdated, fine, but it worked well. And now you've switched it so it always goes to the LiveDocs -- the latest language reference online. Which bothers me for two reasons.



First is that if I'm on an airplane or lose connectivity, I now no longer have the ability to look up code. This means that my productivity is directly tied to having an Internet connection, which should not be so. I suppose I could just keep a copy of CS3 open...

Second (and far more important) is speed. Now looking up a method means waiting for the page refresh. Browsing the docs for a description of some unknown method or property means waiting for the page to load. !Local == !Instanteous == Slows me down. I want to be fast fast fast.

In short, while I agree that the world is a more connected and the web is a big part of that, forcing developers and engineers to embrace it as part of the development cycle is akin to Apple making their iPhone developers build apps for the iPhone ON the iPhone. We should be cautious with changing things like that. Then again, I suppose I could've mentioned this to you during MAX or several months ago or who knows when.

Whatever, it's your fault. :)

In the meanwhile , I've written a new AIR app that takes the latest Language Reference and makes it all local. I even got a designer here to give it a pretty icon that looks all professional and what not... though he made it a CS3 icon by mistake. Anyhoo, now I'm sharing it with the whole world. So... there it is. Yes. Okay.

Love,
Jamie
Jamie Kosoy    

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Comments


Moose     May 08, 2009
great: another happy user of your app!

Cid     Apr 15, 2009
Thanks a lot!!!

Having to go to the web to get the AS3 language reference is a really pain in the ...! You made my day...now back to work!

Cooljackd     Feb 21, 2009
Special thanks for all you do guys, exactly wot i needed always making the ball roll.

Christian Kragh     Feb 17, 2009
Hi agree with this 100% - I really do miss having the in house fast and quick LR.. Another palm to forehead for Adobe.. but we love Adobe.. :)

Tim Dawson     Feb 06, 2009
I found the scrollbars in the air app to be shoddy, so I downloaded the offline version of the AS3 docs:

http://help.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/flash/10/ActionScript3LangRef.zip

and then created a fluid app from my local version.
http://fluidapp.com/

now runs perfect offline and even has a search.


Philip     Jan 27, 2009
Nice idea. Why would you use a logo so similar to Adobe Light Room? Not that it really matters tho ;)

Mike Chambers has also created an AS3 language reference for the iPhone/iPod Touch @ http://www.mikechambers.com/as3iphone/

dCTRL     Jan 23, 2009
Hi! Thanks for the app! We wanted to do the same... ;-)
If there will be a version 2, here my wishlist:
- Choose between Air, Flash and Flex Help
- Add an intern bookmark util
- Search the doc's

But anyway thank you!

Averyprog     Jan 23, 2009
I keep flash as3 open at all times, not because I could spontaneously get on an airplane. I do it because of the SEARCH functionality in the Help module. as4 search, and the online searches as well are absolutely terrible. I get better results using Google. The built in help returns a quarter of the results as the cs3 built in documentation,and the results i get are frequently not for the items i want. I assume that its searching for keywords of some sort instead of article content, but this is a huge mistake. What if you don't know exactly what you're looking for? I'm an advanced as2 developer, and in learning as3 searchable documentation is very very important. I was really hoping that your air app would take care of that, but it's missing this critical piece of infrastructure. I wish cs3 help was offline, with all of it's shortcomings, its a massive improvement to the new version.

Clemente G     Jan 12, 2009
Wow this seems cool. I'm going to download this first chance I get when I get home.

Damon Edwards     Jan 06, 2009
Instead of an AIR app, why not release just the working SWF, so we can throw it in as a panel...???... Just like the Kular panel.... I think that would be ideal. I just really miss having the docs in the IDE, I hate having to switch between any two programs just to see if a Class has a certain property, or so on.

Nathan Roberton     Jan 01, 2009
Very nice solution to the web-only reference access in CS4. All it needs is inline search in order to replace all my reference needs.

BTW, I aggree with all your points why this app is necessary. Also, I really miss having a global search that is scoped only to the AS3 reference. I frequently find myself searching for a class specifically by name and getting 4 or 5 unrelated results from the Adobe site. So in addition to having the extended wait for the page (AND initially also the browser) to load, I have to work harder to find what I need, and usually switching back to Flash typing and right-clicking a term is the fastest way to get there.

Nice work so far!

Daniel     Dec 26, 2008
Here is a link to fix the stupid download error.
http://www.brianpeek.com/blog/archive/2007/11/29/weird-vista-registry-issue.aspx


Jamie Kosoy     Dec 19, 2008
@RyanL: Are you on a Mac or PC? I know on a Mac sometimes the AIR application installer gets confused...

RyanL     Dec 18, 2008
I can't wait to try this AIR app out but I recently upgraded to 1.5 and now none of my previous AIR apps work at all. I can't believe AIR 1.5 is not backwards compatible.

Jonathan Hardie     Dec 13, 2008
Love it! Thanks for this oh-so-useful app. Must point out though, the Lr icon is also used by Lightroom ... but I'm nitpicking, and it *is* green, not grey, so it doesn't really matter.
Great work!

makar     Dec 12, 2008
Hi! great job very usefull!
thanks a lot

Dave Jacowitz     Dec 11, 2008
Thanks Jamie. I understand some users are a bit frustrated with their offline experience and I think an AIR-based solution is a good approach. I'm really glad to see you working on one, and I do think your app is useful. A great thing about the web-based content is we can continue to adapt it to our users' needs and that work is in progress. However, if you prefer to work offline, I highly encourage you to go to our sites here:
http://www.adobe.com/support/flash/
and here:
http://www.adobe.com/support/flex/
periodically, as we also will post updated zips or other solutions for offline use in the future. Your effort has definitely directed more of our attention to the offline experience.

Jamie Kosoy     Dec 11, 2008
@Dave Jacowitz: All great feedback. Yes, with Jon MacDonald's offline version it became pretty clear that there was indeed offline access somewhere.

But I think the most interesting thing I've learned from the discussion that's started as a result of this app isn't that the app itself is useful -- it's that there's a clamoring to figure out a way to make the docs work better for an engineer's productivity. I've got lots of ideas on how I can improve the app from here with that vantage point...

stef     Dec 11, 2008
true.

Dave Jacowitz     Dec 11, 2008
I think it’s an interesting start. I notice it loads the Flex Language Reference, not the the Flash CS4 one with all the Flash components API. Also, by default, when you're on a plane or wherever you're disconnected from the Internet, the Flash CS4 Help should bring up a local copy of the ASLR. You should be able to see API while offline.

Also, you can download the Flash CS4 ActionScript 3.0 Language Reference here, for local browsing WITH its own standalone search:
http://help.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/flash/10/ActionScript3LangRef.zip


It would be great if you have an AIR app that can also download the latest user comments from the online version.

Dave Jacowitz
Sr. Technical Writer
Adobe Systems, Inc.


Step Schwarz     Dec 10, 2008
Thanks so much. I downloaded the CS4 trial last week and my internet connection was not great. It was driving me batty.

Rob McKeown     Dec 10, 2008
It would be great if when you minimized it, it went to your system tray. If it did I would keep this open all day long.

Dustin Sparks     Dec 10, 2008
Its too bad the default isn't the offline version. I can't switch to offline mode because I use several extensions on a regular basis that require online mode.

James     Dec 10, 2008
Hallelujah.

@Jon MacDonald - Switching the default to the offline version could be even more useful, thanks!

Michiel     Dec 10, 2008
@Jon MacDonald Thanx! This is way faster!

Geoff     Dec 10, 2008
This is great!
I'll be using this daily!
thnx!
geoff

Frederik Heyninck     Dec 10, 2008
Is it possible to update the app to the latest adobe AIR version? I cant get it to work.

Frederik

Jeramy     Dec 09, 2008
Whatever dude this is sooo lame!!! I hate it. (okay sorry some one had to troll) Thanks this is very dudical!

Arlo     Dec 09, 2008
@Jon MacDonald Thank YOU sir! Thanks for the air app too, but having the local docs accessable in Firefox is the jimmy-jam.

vamapaull     Dec 09, 2008
Thanks for the AIR app!! :)

nico     Dec 09, 2008
Agree! Really not a good idea to move the reference out of Flash! Thanks fot the app!

De acuerdo! Realmente no fue una buena idea mover la documentacion afuera de Flash! Gracias por la aplicacion!

nico!

rigard     Dec 09, 2008
Excellent! Just what us flashdevelopers need - wicked :)

Jamie Kosoy     Dec 09, 2008
@Jon MacDonald: I figured it had to be somewhere local. Oh well. I sorta never liked having it open in my browser anyway. I always wanted to keep the docs separate.

@flow: It will not. At least not yet.



flow     Dec 09, 2008
Thx.
Useful. Will it autoupgrade in case you upload a new version with updated livedocs?

f.


Matt Propst     Dec 09, 2008
I think the "stupid download error" at least in my recent experience (5 minutes ago) was the result of trying to download the AIR app without having gone to Adobe and downloaded the AIR installer.

I now have the installer, and now I can download right from this page... Next step, conquer the world.

Harry Northover     Dec 09, 2008
Very cool app! Totally agree. :)

Jon MacDonald     Dec 09, 2008
Awesome, thanks!

I should note, however, that the local copy of the language reference still exists with CS4. I wrote a post a while back detailing where it can be found for both OSX and Windows:

http://www.jonnymac.com/blog/2008/11/04/offline-help-and-language-reference-location-in-flash-cs4/

The difference is that CS4 automatically tries to send you to the online copy first. You can also access the local copy by telling Flash to "keep you offline":

Go to Window > Extensions > Connections. In the panel that pops up, click the arrow at the top-right and select "Offline options". From there you can check the box for "Keep me offline". It will then always default to using the offline help. However, it may also prevent you from using any other panels which call out to the internet, such as Kuler.

Hope this helps!

Jamie Kosoy     Dec 09, 2008
@Dennis: I can looking into the scrollbar, but my guess is this is an issue with the way AIR handles iframes. I'm not doing anything special here... in fact, I've literally just downloaded and used the Language Reference from Adobe's pages. No extra code.

@localToGlobal: I'll look into it for sure. This was a sort of down and dirty quickfix so hopefully I don't rope myself into rebuilding Firefox in AIR. :)

localToGlobal     Dec 09, 2008
nice app, thank you very much! what about a searchfield? it would be very helpful.

Dennis     Dec 09, 2008
Thank you very much.

Seems like the scroll bar on lower left pane isn't working correctly. It works with scroll wheel but the dragging the handle seems broken. Also, is it possible to open it in the upper left corner of the screen? The right and lower quarter of the app are off-screen. Is this something I can control?


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